page_title: Waterview Connection
section_title: Combination tunnel method announced
hierarchical_section_title: Waterview Connection / Planning history / Combination tunnel method announced
caption_attribution_description: English: Protestors against above-ground options for the State Highway 20 Waterview Extension in Auckland City, New Zealand. During the walking / cycling open day on the State Highway 20 Extension, shortly before opening.
context_page_description: The Waterview Connection is a motorway section through west/central Auckland, New Zealand. It connects State Highway 20 in the south at Mt Roskill to State Highway 16 in the west at Point Chevalier, and is a part of the Western Ring Route.
  The Waterview Connection is 4.5 km long, of which 2.5 km are in the form of twin tunnels. The Waterview Tunnel supersedes the Lyttelton Road Tunnel as New Zealand's longest road tunnels. By 2026, the link is expected to carry 83,000 vehicles a day. There are three lanes of traffic in each tunnel.
context_section_description: On 13 May 2009 NZTA announced its new preferred route for the Waterview Connection motorway as a combination of surface, bored tunnel and cut and cover tunnel. The tunnels would be constructed with provision for three lanes in each direction.
  A raised surface motorway through Alan Wood Park and the short section between the bored and cut and cover tunnel portals near the Great North Rd and Blockhouse Bay Rd intersection were the largest differences between this new preferred route and the previous bored tunnel option. At $1,165 million, it was cheaper than the $1,974 million two-lane bored tunnel option and the $2,335 million three-lane bored tunnel option.
caption: Local protests, such as here at the end of the existing stub of SH20, played a role in a combined surface and tunnel being reconsidered.
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